<p>I just finished my sophomore year, and I'm wondering when I should attempt the SAT for the first time. I want to go to a selective school, so I'm willing to take it two or three times, depending on my scores. So should I start taking it as soon as possible, like in October?</p>
<p>I'm going to try to spend as much time as possible this summer memorizing vocab words, using the blue book, reading stuff, etc.</p>
<p>Last year I got 218 on the PSAT (68CR/77M/73W).</p>
<p>My current theory is that you should study summer before junior year with an eye on improving PSAT scores (you're within shooting distance of NMS). Then based on your two PSAT scores target study for SAT in January. Be aware that PSAT writing and SAT writing can come out very differently because of that essay. DS went from an 800 in writing to a 690. :-( If you like your January score great! If not take the SAT again in May or June. SAT2s also in May or June. If you don't like those scores you still have one more chance senior year.</p>
<p>OK, thanks... except results from PSATs don't come out until January, so I won't really be able to gauge how much I need to study based on that...</p>
<p>I wouldn't take it that early in the junior year - every admissions officer I've heard talk has said that two times for the SAT is usually enough and more than three and they start to wonder if you are obsessive compulsive.</p>
<p>I would take it early in the junior year. I waited until May, and I really wish I'd done it in October so I would have had a better idea of what to expect.</p>
<p>Take it early so you can have an idea of what to expect. October is said to be the easiest of them all, so i don't think that it'll be a problem</p>
<p>Also, I don't even know how much prep I'm going to be able to do once school starts... I'll be pulling my hair out over AP classes :p ...so in that respect, I guess it makes sense to do it early at least the first time?</p>
<p>At this point in high school, it would be a good idea for you to start thinking about SAT Subject Tests, too.</p>
<p>Do any of the colleges that appeal to you require or recommend these tests? Which ones? What courses are you taking junior year that might provide you with good background for an SAT Subject Test (precalculus is a good lead-up for the Math IIC test; AP U.S. History, AP Biology, and AP Chemistry provide good preparation for the SAT Subject Tests in those subjects, but AP Physics may not). Did you take anything sophomore year that would have prepared you well? If you did, but you didn't take the SAT Subject Test, you might want to review the subject over the summer and take the test in the fall.</p>
<p>You will probably want to reserve at least one or two test dates for SAT Subject Tests. So take that into account when planning the dates for your other tests. Remember that you can't take an SAT and SAT Subject Tests on the same day. Also, there's an advantage to taking only one SAT Subject Test on any given day (if you screw it up really badly, you can cancel your score and only lose that one test; but if you take two or three, you can't cancel just one -- it's all or nothing).</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I did take the Math IIC just this month after having finishing my precalc class. I'm planning on taking the French SAT II test either this fall or this spring. And I'll be taking the Chem SAT II in the spring, too.</p>
<p>So assuming I'm going to take the SAT I this fall, does it matter if I do it in October or November? And stuck-on-1700... just curious: why do you think the Oct test is easier?</p>
<p>I would definitely plan on taking SAT II's in June. Then I would say to wait to take the SAT until after the PSAT, probably in the winter, early spring (like January and April). Then if you still want to take it again you can take it in October of your senior year.</p>
<p>OP: You're off to a great start. 218 as a soph gives you a very nice shot at NMS in your junior year (in most states you're already in the NMSF range)...just don't mess up (my friend went from a 216 to 205)).</p>
<p>I'd say definately don't take any SATs before your PSAT or before the end of 2006. You can (and I recommend) take a SAT in January or April. There are two good reasons for doing this: if you get a great score, you can just keep it and you don't have to worry much about raising it up in the next test administrations. However, if you get a bad score, it's not too late to fix the problem. </p>
<p>I don't know what you want to do about the May administration, but be warned that it's often either in the middle or the beginning of AP season. I remember taking this year's May SAT II's right after my APUSH exam/AP Euro exam/Orchestra Concert the day before...so it was crazy. If you want to wait, you can take your SAT II's in June; you'll probably more relaxed then. I took the SAT again in June because I didn't think I did well in January (then if I mess up again in June, I still have one last shot in Oct before EA).</p>
<p>Use the Oct test date as your last shot at the SAT (if you need to improve your scores)...but there's still Nov and Dec for regular deadlines...but the earlier you get a satisfactory score, the earlier you can be rid of taking the SAT (isn't that good news?)</p>
<p>As for SAT II's, take them whenever you feel ready to (I took 6 subjects over June/soph, Nov/jun, Dec/jun, May/jun).</p>
<p>Good luck and have fun comisar. Dun worry about taking it in october. I go to lynbrook too and junior year was pretty easy for me. Careful about the nms thing. I dropped from 220 to 213 putting me out of the running for the scholarship. You will have plenty of time during your junior year to study, but then again I had only ap bio and ap calc, but still it was way too easy. I would usually only do hw once or twice week. I studied like an hour or two a day for 6 weeks and got good on it. 2390 so chillax.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone... but now I'm so confused! I'm torn between doing it in the fall and doing it in January or something >_<</p>
<p>sai2004: AWESOME job on your 2390! Wow. But the problem is, I'm definitely not going to have an hour or two a day to study when school starts. Every school day I have 2 hours of after sch sports practice, 1 hour of martial arts, 30 min of piano, and I tutor for 1.5 hours. So I don't know if I'll be able to study after school at ALL :(</p>
<p>Hey, don't worry about not prepping. I didn't prep at all for PSAT and got 238. </p>
<p>If you listen in class, do your assignments as assigned, your SAT score will actually rise along with it...so if you are really busy on your ECs after school (as it was the case with me, I never could study for SAT during school nights), just try to get some time in on weekends or long breaks. You probably have tksgiving, christmas, and easter, so that's probably 2-3 weeks at least for you to prep. If you can prep hard during breaks, you don't really need to do that much work on school days.</p>
<p>However, try to find at least 15-20 minutes each night to work on your vocabulary. Whereas testing strategies could be crammed in a short amount of time; vocabularies couldn't.</p>
<p>I'd really suggest for you to take a SAT in Jan (most preferably, since you have Christmas break). Then, you have a better indicator of where you are at and (personally) I think you'll do better in June and October because you'll have a "real" testing experience that's different from practice tests, no matter how realistic. If you don't take a test in Jan/Apr, you're stuck with June and October only (before EA, that is). What if you mess up in June? Then the pressure is really on at October. </p>
<p>If you don't have much of a EA/ED pressure, then you don't have to take a SAT at Jan/Apr...it might actually benefit you because you then can take 2 SATs in senior year (when you're supposed to be more "smart")...so it's all up to your college scheduling.</p>
<p>But a word of advice is really DON'T PROCRASTINATE in taking these exams...there were a ton of seniors scrambling at my school before october because they haven't taken the SAT even once yet.</p>
<p>I know people who took SAT2s in May figuring they'd already studied for them. My son took SAT1 in May and SAT2 in June because he was going to have to learn a bunch of physics that hadn't been covered in the AP course for the SAT2.</p>